Dartmoor National Park in Devon offers miles of rugged wide-open spaces over which you can wander freely without the need to follow footpaths and bridleways. Well-known for its majestic granite tors, it is also home to the largest collection of visible Bronze Age remains anywhere in northern Europe, including settlements, ceremonial monuments and burial sites. But, if you really know what to look for, you can see how man has continued to make his mark on the landscape – mainly through farming and mineral extraction – from medieval times to the present day.

Of course geology, climate, plants and animals have all played their part as well, and Dartmoor’s position, south of the Ice Age glaciation, combined with its granite core, make it visibly different from other British upland areas that you may have visited.

As a visitor, in Devon for just a few days, choosing where to take your walks and what to look for when you’re out there can be something of a challenge. That’s where I can help.

I’ve been walking the Moor for more than 35 years and have lived in the National Park since 1981. For 10 years in the 80s and 90s I was a member of the Dartmoor Rescue Group, where I learnt to navigate with pinpoint accuracy at night in driving rain. While my main interest is in the way human activity has made Dartmoor what it is today, I can also identify most of the birds and animals you’ll see on an average day’s walk and explain the basic geology that created this unique upland area.

If you’d like me to take you out for anything from a gentle stroll to a serious hike over Dartmoor, please contact me.

I will talk to you first to find out your main interests and preferred time and distance before agreeing a route with you.